Despite a truce being called last night, fresh violence has erupted in Independence Square with fatalities among both police and opposition protesters

The Foreign Office tonight updated its travel advice for Ukraine to advise against all but essential travel to Kiev.

Brits currently visiting or living in the city have been advised to stay indoors.

German, French and Polish ministers are due to enter a new round of talks with President Yanukovich tonight.

The Polish PM said that President Yanukovich was willing to hold early parliamentary and Presidential elections a year before his term ends in a bid to end the violence.

8:10 pm

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and David Cameron by telephone today about the escalating situation.

The Kremlin said they all expressed "utmost concern" over the deadly violence in Ukraine.

A Kremlin statement said: "Vladimir Putin stressed the critical importance of an immediate end to bloodshed, the need to take urgent measures to stabilise the situation and suppress extremist and terrorist attacks."

7:20 pm

Ukrainian opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko has said he hoped for a plan for peace tonight.

The former boxer said he hoped the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland would be able to hammer out a roadmap with President Yanukovich and leaders of the opposition later tonight.

"We have no clear decision yet. We hope for a result tonight," he told reporters, adding that the final decision would depend on Yanukovich.

Diplomatic sources said earlier that the roadmap would include forming a temporary government.

6:18 pm

European Union foreign ministers agreed today to impose sanctions on Ukraine, including visa bans, asset freezes and restrictions on the export of anti-riot equipment, ministers and officials said.

The restrictions, to be drafted into law in the coming days, will apply to those involved with ordering or orchestrating the violence in Kiev that has left nearly 60 people dead.

Proposals for a ban on arms exports were dropped.

"The EU decides as a matter of urgency on asset freeze and visa ban on those responsible for violence and excessive force in Kiev," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in a tweet.

5:27 pm

Worrying figures are emerging of the number of deaths in Ukraine today.

Channel 4's Matt Frei, who is currently in Kiev, just tweeted this update.

According to protest sources 100 killed today #Kiev. We personally counted 13 dead. But I can easily imagine more

More from the US now, as the White House urges Ukraine to withdraw its security forces from downtown Kiev.

Spokesman Jay Carney said that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich should immediately withdraw his troops and respect the right of peaceful protest. He added: "We urge protesters to express themselves peacefully."

President Barack Obama, at a news conference on Wednesday night in Mexico, called for a move to a unity government and ultimately, free and fair elections.

"We urge the Ukrainian military not to get involved in a conflict that can and should be resolved by political means," Carney added. "The use of force will not resolve the crisis. Clear steps must be taken to stop the violence and initiate meaningful dialogue that reduces tension and addresses the grievances of the Ukrainian people."

4:26 pm

Ukraine violence round-up from our foreign reporter Don Mackay:

These are the bloodiest hours in Ukraine’s history since it broke away
from soviet-control 22 years ago.

The latest body count in Kiev’s Independence Square came on what was meant to be a day of national mourning for the dead.

Police have been issued with combat weapons, suggesting they had been given military-style arms, after the government claimed the protesters were holding 67 policemen hostage.

Acting Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharschenko said police would use them “in accordance with the law” to defend themselves and others and to free hostages.

Anti-government protesters carried out a running raid on police lines and captured a number of uniformed officers and marched them away.

There are growing fears the country is edging closer to all-out civil war as the government’s security service said it had launched a nationwide “anti-terrorist operation” after arms and ammunition dumps were looted.

Journalists in Kiev have counted 21 bodies in civilian clothes in streets leading up
to the square as others covered them in sheets and blankets as makeshift shrouds.

Television pictures have shown activists in combat fatigues leading several captured, uniformed policemen across the square.

Police had pulled back as dawn broke and the protesters had followed.

But
then the black-clad police lines opened fire on them. Video footage on Ukrainian TV showed them being cut down in a hail of gunfire.

Rifle-toting protesters were said to be using the National Music Conservatory as a sniper’s lair to target the police lines.

Petro Maksimchuk, 23, said as the new day of violence
began: “What truce? There is no truce! It is simply war ahead of us!

“They are provoking us. They throw grenades at us. Burn our homes."

4:16 pm

The US Government has issued a statement now, saying it is "outraged" at images coming out of Kiev.

It said the White House was outraged to see Ukrainian security forces "firing automatic weapons on their own people".

The US has pledged to work with its European allies to "hold accountable those responsible for the Ukraine violence", reports Reuters.

4:09 pm

Further reports are suggesting the number of dead protesters in Kiev could now be as high as 70, according to one medic, and the number could yet rise.

And there are also reports that there have been 67 police captured by protesters and detained them at Kiev City Hall.

Protesters have been using the central post office as a field hospital and temporary morgue.

3:55 pm

Foreign Secretary William Hague has said that the situation in Ukraine is "utterly unacceptable and indefensible".

Ukraine’s police force has been armed with combat weapons, according to the country’s acting interior minister

Acting interior minister Vitaly Zakharschenko said in a statement published on the ministry website:"I signed an order and police have been given combat weapons, which will be used in accordance with the law."

It comes as this footage emerged, appearing to show police shooting at demonstrators:

The head of Kiev’s city administration has quit the party of President Viktor Yanukovich this afternoon, in protest at the bloodshed - a sign the head of state may be losing support.

Volodymyr Makiyenko, who was directly appointed by Yanukovich to run the city, said in a statement he had left the president’s Party of the Regions.

He said: "Today’s events on the streets of Ukraine are a tragedy for the whole Ukrainian people.

"Human life must be the highest value of our country, and nothing must be allowed to contradict this principle."

His move followed statements of alarm from some of Ukraine’s richest business "oligarchs", whose interests the Party of the Regions has been widely seen as protecting.

Getty Images

1:56 pm

Two members of Ukraine’s Olympics team have decided to pull out of the Sochi Winter Games in support of demonstrators back home.

Alpine skier Bogdana Matsotska and her coach and father Oleg Matsotskyy said they had withdrawn in protest at Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovich and his government.

She said: "I have decided not to take part in the slalom, my favourite discipline (on Friday), because of the horrible events that are happening in the capital of my Ukraine, in the Maidan (square)."

"My friends are there at the Maidan, people I know, close friends of mine. To go on the start line when people are dying and when the authorities broke the main rule of the Olympic competition, which is peace - I simply cannot do it."

Ukraine team officials and some athletes held a minute’s silence in memory of the victims, and black ribbons have been added to Ukraine flags hanging on the balconies of their building in the athletes’ village.

1:24 pm

Some of the images coming out of Kiev today are just breathtaking.

Fires are raging again, with people on both sides struggling to get casualties to medical help.